


Sunlight

by callunavulgari



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 10:38:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19171579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callunavulgari/pseuds/callunavulgari
Summary: They aren’t quite out of the solar system when Loki appears at the arm of Thor’s chair, hair shorn short and a furious snarl on his face. There’s an unfamiliar scar across the bridge of his nose, and deep cuts along his chin and hairline. He looks incandescent with rage, dark eyed and looming over Thor. The tesseract glows in the palm of his hand, casting a pale blue light across the console.Thor blinks, and Loki vanishes just as quickly as he’d appeared. He stares at the arm of his chair, where his brother’s hand had lain. To his left, Quill makes a face and asks, “Who the hell was that?”





	Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the majority of this after getting back from the theater a month or two ago and always assumed that I would add more. But I don't think it's going to happen, so I cleaned it up tonight. I think there was supposed to be some wistful smooching and some timey wimey stuff, but I lost the thread of things when I realized how convoluted the time travel plot line was in Endgame. It gave me a headache, so I stopped writing. 
> 
> But hey, writing this helped me cope, even a little. So enjoy.
> 
> Oh, and also. Spoilers. Obviously.

They aren’t quite out of the solar system when Loki appears at the arm of Thor’s chair, hair shorn short and a furious snarl on his face. There’s an unfamiliar scar across the bridge of his nose, and deep cuts along his chin and hairline. He looks incandescent with rage, dark eyed and looming over Thor. The tesseract glows in the palm of his hand, casting a pale blue light across the console.

Thor blinks, and Loki vanishes just as quickly as he’d appeared. He stares at the arm of his chair, where his brother’s hand had lain. To his left, Quill makes a face and asks, “Who the hell was that?”

Not a dream, then.

 

He sees him again on the bridge of an enemy ship.

They are liberating several key components from the belly of a kree vessel and it isn’t going as planned. In the chaos, Loki appears before him. He looks different, his hair no longer shorn quite so close to his skull, feathering out along his shoulderblades. He wears pale calfskin leggings and a white tunic that washes him out horribly. The scar is fresh, a jagged red gash so new that it is still irritated around the edges.

There is murder in his brother’s eyes.

An explosion rocks the ship and Loki staggers, fingers going white around the cube that still sits in the palm of his hand. Thor reaches out to catch him, half expecting his hands to pass through the image like a mirage.

Instead, he catches Loki around the waist and drags him upright. The ship shudders around them, screams ringing out in the distance. Thor cannot look away from his brother.

“Loki,” he breathes, and swallows down the hurt.

Loki opens his mouth.

“Thor,” he says, and grasps the edge of Thor’s jaw with sharp fingers. His nails dig in, and he leans in closer, a crazed expression on his face.

Then he is gone.

 

The next time Thor sees him, it is in a garden on a planet he does not know the name of. Loki waits for him on the lip of a fountain, his fingers playing delicately over the petals of an enormous crimson flower.

This Loki is unlike either of the others. His hair is long and lush, pulled back into a neat braid at the nape of his neck and his body is decked out in familiar dark colors. There is no scar, and when he tilts his head up and sees Thor, there is only warmth in his eyes.

“Brother,” he calls, lips tilting up at the corners. “Come join me.”

“Loki,” Thor says on a sigh, and goes to sit.

A wall of silence closes around them, the garden vibrant and buzzing with life. A bee the size of Thor’s fist lands lightly on the flower next to Loki’s head.

“You must have questions,” Loki says, regarding the bee fondly. With the backs of his fingers, he strokes its fuzzy backside. When he looks back at Thor, he is still smiling, but there is a hint of sadness there. Apologetically, he adds, “I fear I may not have much time.”

“I do have many questions,” Thor agrees, but finds he still cannot make himself ask them. His throat feels swollen, thick with some heavy emotion. It is not unlike the feeling he had when he had spoken with his mother.

“I see,” Loki says, and leans against him. He is warm. Solid.

They sit in silence for several more minutes, regarding the world around them. When he cannot take it any longer, Thor turns to look at him. Loki stares back, a hint of that old cool amusement in his eyes.

“You’re alive?” he asks. His voice sounds tremulous, wobbly to his own ears.

Loki grimaces and shrugs. “In a manner of speaking. Time travel makes things strange. The rules are never what you expect.”

“So, my brother-”

“Dead,” Loki says. Then, “But in a way, alive.”

Thor frowns.

“Your friends poked some holes where they shouldn’t have,” Loki says with a short shrug. “Patching them up is not a simple matter.”

“So, what does that mean for you?” Thor hesitates. “For us?”

“Oh, Thor.” With a careful hand, he reaches out and clasps Thor’s jaw, a mirror to the way Thor had touched him once, long ago. “Dear brother. Fret not. Did I not tell you that the sun would shine on us again?”

“Loki,” Thor starts, his voice cracking down the middle.

Loki smiles at him.

“Trust in me,” he says.

And then he is gone.


End file.
